Red Dog
by Angelic915
Summary: Short story. Set one year after the end of the movie, Dampier's population is moving on with their lives, all except for Nancy, maybe she just needs a little push...


Set one year from the end of Red Dog

Disclaimer: I do not own Red Dog, it belongs to the author and movie director.

 _Red Dog_

Dampier had not changed much in the past year, the small Pilbara region consisted of a mine, a pub, docklands, a caravan park, a bus station and a and barren landscape covered in nothing but red dirt. The miners still worked hard and the population was at peace… most of the time, but the story that was etched into every member of the community's heart and souls will never be forgotten, for years to come. It had taken a while for everyone to return to normal after the loss of that magnificent red Australian Kelpie, but return to normal they did.

In early hours of the morning most of Dampier was awake, including a nine month pregnant Nancy and her fiancé Thomas. Their relationship had grown strong over the years, strong enough that they were ready to start a family and a life together. It hadn't taken long for the couple to rebuild a small home on a hill above where John's cabin was, especially since they had the help of nearly most of the community. John was never a touchy subject or a difficulty between the couple, Thomas knew that Nancy would still hold love for him and he never had a hard time accepting that fact because Thomas himself respected John and even would go as far as to say he looked up to him as the brother he never knew. Red Dog was replaced but never forgotten by the two, all they had to do was look at the Red Australian Kelpie Thomas had brought back on his way home from a trucking job and they were reminded of the similar looking dog in the picture frames that adorned the walls of their home. Even Rusty himself had received nearly every aspect of Red's personality and features, and the community had absolutely no objection to it, they had accepted Rusty into their lives as much as they did Red Dog.

Thomas walked into his room after finishing his breakfast, to find his fiancée adding the finishing touches to her makeup. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind meeting the stomach carrying his near born child.

" _I've got to go to work" he said to her with his head_ buried into the back of her neck.

She groaned in reply saying "do you have to"?

"As much as I'd love to stay, with you on maternity leave someone's gotta bring home the money", he smiled in reply.

"Argh, fine, but don't go doing something crazy with the lad's after work again, I wanna see both you and Rusty safe at the gathering tonight".

He released his hold over her and stood at attention, "Yes ma'am!" he replied with a mock salute.

She turned around and slapped him repeatedly across the chest, he laughed as she kept hitting him until he was out the door. Rusty followed closely behind him and jumped in the car seat beside his master unable to make out the predicament between the two. Nancy chuckled at the doorway and waved Thomas off as he and Rusty left, he returned the wave with a smile in the rear-view mirror.

At the transport station for the mine the men had already started to work, it didn't really matter if you were 10 minutes late or not, not everyone's expected to show up on time in such a spread out community as well as a hard labour workplace. As long as you got there to do your job everyone was fine with each other. One of the mining trucks emergency break and air pressure system had broken and it was up to a group of very capable miners to fix it. Jocko, Peeto and Vanno had been working on it for a day or so now and were almost finished. Jocko and Peeto stood at the top of a raised platform working inside an open panel while Vanno stood below them working on the wiring. Both men were trying to work as loud as possible to block out the conversation Vanno had started with them the moment they arrived at work, a conversation not so surprisingly about his home town of Abruzzo. Peeto turned to Jocko trying to find a new conversation to tone out of the one-sided one below them.

"What is something you never say in the workplace?" Peeto asked, actually curious for an answer.

Jocko looked down for a moment and looked at Peeto before saying, "Hey Vanno, tell us about your home town?"

Both men paused for moment before laughing and continuing on with their work.

Vanno after slowly deceasing his rambling about Abruzzo, started to think of his family, his beautiful wife, his seven year old son Giovanni and his fourteen month old daughter Constance. Yes his life was a marvellous one in Dampier; he was content and happy with his current situation, even though he missed his Italian setting, he along with most of the population in Dampier would not change his life for anything.

While working away inside the miner truck Peeto and Jocko started to think of their lives as well. Peeto thought about what sort of sowing item he should knit next as well as what sort of standby music he should have on his record player, in case any of his fellow miners were to stop by again, he still remembered the feeling of embarrassment the last time that happened when Red Dog stole his yarn in front of Vanno and Jocko.

'Ahh yes Red Dog', he smiled at the thought of his friend.

Jocko was thinking of his new love interest that worked under Nancy as assistant secretary, he had yet to make a move and thought about whether he should or not, he never dwelled on his lost wife and daughter very often and was happy that he may be able to move on, ' _all thanks to Red'_ he thought, remembering the dog saving him from Lord Nelson, the first time he laughed in years that was. Ariel had taken a liking to him and maybe in the near future they would start seeing each other, so he hoped anyway.

Both men paused and took a break from their work. Peeto leaned over the platform and asked if Vanno if he was coming to the gathering outside the pub later on, Vanno in which replied with a 'yes' before asking,

" _Could you knit a sweater for Constance my friend?"_

Peeto smiled before realising what Vanno had just asked.

" _Make it yourself!" he replied throwing a near_ by tool at the Italian. Jocko was chuckling in the background, when Peeto looked at him with a face that would make the ski patrol tremble he quickly silenced himself and returned to his work.

Rusty would never go the full way to the mine with Thomas in the morning instead he let his master know when he wanted to be let out with a bark. Rusty felt his young muscles move under his red fur while walking over a dune to a nearby tree he smelt a familiar predator in. He looked up to see the large hawk staring at him, the hawk squawked at him before swooping, Rusty dodged the swoop and didn't think twice before running towards the docklands. Once there and the hawk out of sight he looked around before finding what he was after, the early morning run of fish. He snuck up the gravel pathway to the docked fishing boat feeling the sea breeze in the midst of the warm autumn day. He peered over a crate to see a barrel load of dead fish and a small boatload of fisherman. With haste he grabbed a fish in his sharp teeth and made a run for it with a smile ignoring the shouts of angry sailors behind him. He loved this home. After finishing his lunch he hitched a ride on the bus back towards the mine, as was the way with red dogs in the Pilbara.

Thomas was a road trucker until he decided to settle down in Dampier; at that point he became a trucker for the mine. He loved it and like all days it meant joining the group of fanatical friends he'd made whilst here, for lunch break. He sat down in the small room with his food and drink and exchanged words with Peeto, Jocko and Vanno. Like always they asked how the missus was and like always he would reply with _"bigger",_ they laughed and at the same time felt fear for their friend for what the lady in mention would do if she were to find out what his reply is every day. The small group talked and decided to get some others and go to the beach for a quick drink before going to the gathering at the pub. They all liked the plan as it would give them a chance to cool down in the heated environment. Rusty walked through the door and quickly found his target going over to Peeto for some food. Peeto looked down at the dog before looking back up to Thomas and asking

" _Why does he always come to me for food, why not him?"_ he said pointing at Vanno.

" _Because he likes you"_ Thomas half lied. Sure Rusty liked Peeto but that's not the reason he came to him for food.

" _You trained him to do this didn't you?"_ Peeto stated with an angry look on his face.

Thomas smiled at Peeto picking up the truth, before replying " _he's a dog for everyone isn't he?"_ the group and nearby listeners laughed at the title remembering that it belonged to a similar dog.

Nancy was home, doing small chores as much as she could handle with the small baby in her stomach. She thought of her boys and the gathering tonight. She had made quite the home here in Dampier and like most others, would not change it for the world. She accepted and loved Rusty as she did Red Dog; she smiled at the thought of both her life friends. Nancy would however, think about John at times, she would never mention it to Thomas, though she's sure he'd understand, but with moving on with her life the way she has, she can't help but think she's betraying her former fiancé. She hoped John would understand but had always wanted some sort of confirmation that she was allowed to continue with her life, it broke her heart to think that way but would never be slowed down by it. She stopped at the thought as a kick was placed against the inside of her stomach, as if the kid was trying to say _"stop_ being such a downer".

' _Cheeky bugger' she thought._

Hours had passed until it was time for the miners to retreat home, or more like normal, to the pub. However a small collection of the smelly men excluding Thomas and the bartender Jack got into the convoy of cars and headed for the beach. Upon arriving they put the esky down on the shoreline and each grabbed a beer before heading knee deep into the cool water. They all took their respective mouth full's, before they all let out a collection of frustrated sighs as they heard Vanno mention the beaches of Abruzzo. They let him talk however seeing what was about to happen and not sure whether or not they should intervene, Vanno ranted on about his home as he felt a cold metal blade on his throat, he jumped turning around to witness the angry faces of the ski patrol, one with a razor in hand, the three Russian miners had always hated hearing the Italian region's name and were eagerly waiting for Vanno to make a slip up so they could follow through with their natural animal like instincts.

" _Now...now… w...wait… fe…fella's"_ but before Vanno could finish his sentence they tackled him into the water.

Looking at each other the group of friends silently agreed not to let the ski patrol kill their annoying Italian friend, they didn't know why, but they still agreed. They rushed to pull the burly men off of Vanno before something off in the distance caught their eye. What they saw was Lord Nelson jumping out of the water, a large fish entering his mouth, before diving back under out of sight. The men all looked at each other completely forgetting the previous quarrel, upon coming to the realization that they were still pretty deep in the water. It was a sight to behold, watching all the miners and bartender, running out of the water shouting profanity with beer still in hand. Jocko grabbed the esky with one hand as all men weren't worried about stoping and continued for the cars, the last sound to be heard in the area was that of multiple tire screeches all heading towards the pub.

Maureen had been busy setting up the BBQ area outside as she awaited her husband's return from the beach. Upon seeing the cars show up and all men with pale expressions she asked what happened, the only reply she received were multiple hands raised in the air as they passed her without a word she took that as assign of not wanting to talk about it, she went to console her husband. The men all recovered with another quick drink and started setting up for the rest of the community to arrive.

Its well into the night but thanks to daylight savings the sun had not set just yet, everyone was enjoying themselves and the night was one to remember. Jocko had met up with Ariel and both seemed to grow closer as they enjoyed conversation; however they were interrupted as Jocko spotted Rusty creeping towards the BBQ and before anyone realised it he already had the piece of meat in his mouth and was running away from the shouting cooks. Jocko laughed harder than he had in a long time remembering the similar action the friend of a lifetime once did before saving his life. He made a vow that day to red that he would not let that action go wasted, with that he turned to Ariel who had just stopped laughing at the sight as well; staring into her light blue eyes, he knew what he wanted.

Peeto walked over to Vanno and his family, he looked at Vanno with a threatening expression before shoving a small red garment into Vanno's stomach.

" _Mention this to anyone and I'll give you an ed-u-cation!"_ Peeto warned the man.

Vanno looked at the garment and smiled with great affection before hugging the man tightly, much to Peeto's dismay. Peeto got out of the hug and shook his head in disapproval before moving his hand without looking towards his beer he left on the table next to him only to be met with empty air, again for the second time that night Rusty was seen running through the crowd, this time with a beer in his mouth and an angry Peeto nearly on his tail shouting _"give back my bloody beer!"_

Nancy had caught up with Thomas and gave him the usual kiss and a hug thinking she heard him mutter something about Lord Nelson, but then shrugged it off. They talked a while before joining their respective friends. Nancy slowly walked to the edge of the gathering looking at everyone with a smile. She watched as the friends she'd been through terrible hardships with laughed and enjoyed themselves, it was at times like these she felt she was a part of something much more than a community, she felt like she was a part of a large and caring family. The feeling engulfed her with waves of happy emotions. She looked at all their faces, alight with kinship and happiness, Jack, Maureen, Vanno, Ariel, Jocko, Peeto, Rusty, Thomas; this was her home, her family. But despite all that, the feeling of guilt and betrayal wavered within her again, followed with a strange feeling in the back of her mind almost like a nudge telling her to turn around, and she did, her eyes locked on the horizon away from the gathering, as she was at this point, the sun was setting and was about one fifth covered making the sky bright orange and red, in the middle of the sunset however on a hill in the distance she saw a male figure standing tall, with boots and a dark dress shirt tucked into blue jeans, she squinted to make out his face when her stomach fell at the realization at who it was…

' _John?',_ she saw John, he was smiling, she was hit with a wave of emotion, happiness sadness, love and relief she felt like this was the confirmation she needed to continue with her life, barley managing to hold back tears of joy, a second figure approached John from behind and sat to his left by his side merely inches away from his leg again this figure was smiling at her to, she'd know that face anywhere, anyone here would, _"Red Dog"_ she murmured looking at the companion she once waited years for. By now no one except Thomas noticed Nancy's strange behaviour, he moved towards her asking if she was okay and when his eyes met her expression, he followed her line of sight only to be met with a sunset.

" _It's_ beautiful" he said.

" _Yeah"_ she replied turning towards him, and _"yeah I'm fine"_ she smiled. She knew she was the only one that could witness what she just had, and she was absolutely fine with it, because she knew it was real, Rusty had also join the couple at this point and was content to sit at their feet and watch the sunset to. Turning back to the horizon Nancy saw John give Red Dog a pat before they both turned their heads toward her for a final smile, yes this was all the reassurance she needed. John and Red turned around and began walking away into the sunset side by side, a warm and gentle breeze flowed through the land blowing dust between Nancy and the figures only visible to her, when the dust was gone the figures went with the last of it.

" _Let's get back to it"_ Nancy told Thomas followed with a peck on the lips and a bright smile.

" _Sure thing"_ he replied, with that they both turned and walked with Rusty in tow towards their friends… their family.


End file.
